By BiSM1LLah-empiritrage. Area Rugs and Pads. At Wednesday, January 09th 2019, 08:27:54 AM.

I have been restoring and caring for antique rugs for years and have always used one of two pads. The first is a recycled jute pad that is as dense as can be for its kind. This is a 40 ounce weight, which is on the higher quality level of jute pads. This weight means there is a dense compression of fiber per square yard and this is important for protection and resistance. This pad can be used under all antique rugs that do not tend to slide around, mainly room size ones.

For finding pads that do not harm floors, in our experience with the pad industry, the domestically made rubber backed products to include the open mesh and felt products seem to perform best for not harming floors. The felt products without rubber backing are also functional for not harming floors.. The pads that seem to cause the most problems are the PVC products from China. For the most part, we feel, these products will not harm floors. But there have been circumstances we have heard about where they have been blamed for causing harm. In speaking with industry experts about coating PVC, we know that coating PVC is a very delicate process and must be controlled to the exact specifications each time. The curing oven must be set to the proper curing temperatures. The coating speed must be exact every time. The PVC coating compound must be made to the exact same specification each time. Any variance in controlling the coating specifications could cause the PVC coated pad to be too tacky or too dry. Being too tacky is the biggest issue with harming floors as it could stick to the flooring and then there is an issue with how to remove it without harming the floors.

The next pad is one that has a non slip feature for rugs that tend to move around, mostly rugs size 6'x9' and under. This pad is a dense needle punched recycled jute surface with a natural layer of solid rubber backing. This is the pad that is textured on the surface to grab your rug and the rubber holds everything to the floor. It is 1/4 of an inch thick and extremely dense. Use this safely on all floors as long as you get one with a solid rubber and not a sprayed on latex that can harm floors.